Bananas are harvested from trees in tropical growing regions such as Central and South America. Export bananas are picked green, shipped to distribution centers in destination countries, and delivered to retail stores in a state of ripeness appropriate for retail sale. Growers conventionally pack bananas in covered, corrugated cardboard boxes containing about 40 pounds of bananas per box. Filled boxes are placed on pallets in eight layers, each layer including 5 or 6 boxes. Bananas are refrigerated to between 13.5° and 15° C. (56.3 and 59.0° F.) during transport to suspend the ripening process (“put the bananas to sleep”). This allows bananas to reach grocery stores without being overripe.
Pallets of cooled (“sleeping”) bananas are loaded onto ships for transport from growing regions to consuming regions. Temperature continues to be controlled throughout shipment to distribution centers in the consuming regions. Acceptance testing usually occurs at the distribution center. Upon arrival, bananas on a given pallet are inspected to determine if the shipment will be accepted or rejected. A typical inspection involves sampling bananas in 3-4 boxes on each pallet. The bananas are selected at different layers and sides of the 30-48 box arrangement to determine the quality of bananas and their state of ripeness. When shipping in corrugated boxes, a hole must be cut in the selected boxes with a knife. One or more bananas are removed through the hole and inspected. Attributes tested include physical appearance, size, sweetness, and temperature.
Accepted pallets of bananas are moved to a ripening room. There the temperature of the bananas is raised and the bananas are exposed to ethylene gas to restart the ripening process (“waken the bananas”). The ripening process continues in the ripening room for about 3-5 days. After sufficient ripening, the pallets are loaded onto a truck at the distribution center for delivery to retail stores. Temperature continues to be controlled. To lengthen shelf life at the stores, boxes are de-stacked from each pallet, box covers are removed, and the uncovered boxes are reloaded onto the pallet in a cross-stacked arrangement (each box has its length extending in a direction perpendicular to the length of the box on which it is located). Cross-stacking provides better airflow over the bananas, minimizing over-ripening by allowing better release of heat and ethylene gas generated during ripening.
The current transport process for bananas has several disadvantages. During the inspection process, the cutting of containers may result in direct damage to the bananas from the cutting implement as a container is cut, and indirect damage to the bananas may result from structural weakness cause by the cutting of the boxes, which may result in the crushing of bananas during transportation. Also, manipulation of boxes at the retail store to achieve the cross-stacked arrangement is labor intensive.
While plastic containers as an alternative to corrugated cardboard boxes have been produced, they have had some, although limited commercial success for transporting of bananas. They have been relatively heavy and had rigid construction. One proposed plastic container, described in published PCT Application WO2015134067, has a light weight construction giving the box a relatively high flexibility similar to corrugated cardboard which is desirable in many applications.
There remains a need for a plastic container having an access door that is easily opened to facilitate the inspection process and to facilitate the release of heat and ethylene gas that is generated during the ripening process. The box should also provide access to the contents of the container without compromising the structural integrity of the box when the box is subjected to the substantial forces resulting from the stacking and transportation of multiple layers of containers. For example, the contents of the container should not be damaged and the access door should not inadvertently open during transportation. Additionally, it is typically desirable that the opening mechanism and door should fit within the profile of the wall to facilitate manipulation of containers on a pallet and decrease the likelihood that the contents of the container will be damaged.